O Bairro além do Bairro

The Neighborhood beyond the Neighborhood: performance and urban occupation by the dance group “Los Niños”

Abstract

This article analyzes, from a sociological approach grounded in ethnography, the dance performances of a Roma group, focusing on the relationships between culture, urban space, and processes of identity construction. It argues that performative practices articulate both material and symbolic dimensions of social life, especially in contexts of territorial segregation, contributing to forms of belonging, social control, and recognition. The performances are understood as spaces of negotiation that involve both identity construction and the symbolic and material occupation of the city. In this sense, they can be interpreted as practices of resistance, insofar as they produce visibility and challenge relations connected to the right to the city and the expansion of socio-spatial presence for the subjects.